Grinding device

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a grinding device for or in a pepper mill to be used on a table and comprising a receptacle for peppercorns being at its bottom provided with a stator and a rotor having cooperating grinding surfaces of a frustoconical shape converging upwardly, said rotor being secured to a shaft carried through the receptacle and rotatably mounted in a bearing in the top of the receptacle. According to the invention an aperture for supplying peppercorns to the receptacle is provided in the rotor and the grinding surfaces of the stator and rotor are urged against each other in working relationship by spring means acting directly or indirectly upon the shaft and the receptacle.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Richard Bent Nissen 8870 Langa,Denmark [211 App]. No. 4,241 [22] Filed Jan. 20, 1970 [45] Patented Jan.11, 1972 [32] Priority Jan. 20, 1969 [33] Denmark [31] 292/69 [54]GRINDING DEVICE 6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 241/168,

241/245, 241/258 51 Int. Cl A47j 42/04 [50] Field of Search 241/168,169, 244, 245, 257 R, 258, 259; 146/203; 222/ 1 96.1

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,074,299 9/1913 Strack241/245 X 2,763,440 9/1956 Johnson 459,854 9/1891 Maillot PrimaryExaminer-Robert L. Spruill Attorney-Parrott, Bell, Seltzer, Park &Gibson I rotor being secured to a shaft carried through the receptacleand rotatably mounted in a bearing in the top of the receptacle.According to the invention an aperture for supplying pep-' percorns tothe receptacle is provided in the rotor and the grinding surfaces of thestator and rotor are urged against each other in working relationship byspring means acting directly or indirectly upon the shaft and thereceptacle.

PATENTEDJANHM 3,633,334

! INVENTOR Rncwxzb B. Nassau ATTORNEY GRINDING DEVICE SPECIFICATION Thepresent invention relates to a grinding device for or in a pepper millto be used on a table and comprising a receptacle for peppercorns beingat its bottom provided with a stator and a rotor having cooperatinggrinding surfaces of a frustoconical shape converging upwardly, saidrotor being secured to a shaft carried through the receptacle androtatably mounted in a bearing in the top of the receptacle.

Such grinding devices are commonly used for table pepper mills whichbesides grinding the pepper also serve a decorative purpose. Generally,such grinding devices are delivered from a special-manufacture to themore artistic manufacturer of the table pepper mills.

To enable the peppercorns to be supplied to the receptacle of thedevice, the receptacle is generally provided with a closable aperture inits top or sidewalls which, however, will complicate the insertion ofthe grinding device in the pepper mill housing and often adverselyinterfere with the artist concept of the housing. It is also known toplace this aperture in the bottom of the receptacle besides the statorof the grinding means, whereby however the cross section dimension ofthe grinding device will be undesireably enlarged.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improvedgrinding device of the kind referred to, which is of a simpleconstruction and which may easily be mounted in a peppermill housingwithout interference with the artist design of the housing.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a grinding device orpepper mill of the kind referred to by which it will be possible bysimple means and without special manipulations to grind the peppercornsmore or less coarsely as desired.

It is further an object of the invention to provide a pepper mill whichenables a visual observation of the amount of peppercorns held in thereceptacle of the grinding device.

According to the present invention this is obtained by providing acloseable aperture for the supplying of peppercorns to the receptacle inthe rotor of the grinding device, whereby this aperture will beinvisible when the pepper mill is standing on the table and which willnot imply any undesired enlargement of the cross section of the grindingdevice. By a preferred embodiment of the invention the rotor may beurged against the stator by spring means acting between the receptacleand the rotor shaft so that when grinding the peppercorns by graspingthe main body of the pepper mill with one hand and turning the rotor bymeans of a knob or head fastened to the upper end of the rotor shaftwith the other hand, it will be possible to achieve more coarse-grindedpepper simply by pressing the knob or head downward against the mainbody during its turning.

According to a. further embodiment of the invention the receptacle ofthe grinding device may be of a transparent material, for instancetransparent plastic, and the housing of the pepper mill being providedwith one or more openings in its sidewalls, whereby an observation ofthe amount of peppercorns held in the receptacle will be possible.

This and further features and objects of the invention will be moreapparent from the following description with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation in section of an embodiment of the grindingdevice according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation in section of an embodiment of the peppermill according to the invention; and

FIG. 3 a section on the line 3--3 of FIG. 2.

The grinding device shown in FIG. 1 consists of a receptacle 1 which atits top is closed by a cover'2 and at its bottom is provided with astator 3 having a frustoconical working surface 4 provided with notchesor grooves of an appropriate configuration, and which is cooperatingwith a similar working surface on a rotor 5 secured to a shaft 6 carriedthrough the receptacle 1 and through a bearing in the cover 2.

The receptacle 1 can be made of any suitable material preferably of atransparent plastic and may be of any suitable configuration, forinstances a cylinder as shown. If desired, it may be provided withprotrusions, not shown, to ensure a nonrotatable securing in the mainhousing of a pepper mill.

The shaft 6 may at its upper end,'not shown in the drawing, have aconvenient configuration to ensure a nonrotatable fastening of thepepper mill's operating head or knob. Furthermore, the upper end of theshaft 6 is surrounded by a slightly conical disk 12 of resilientmaterial which at its periphery is abutting against cover 2 of thereceptacle land at its central part against the operating head or knobso as to resiliently urge the working surface of the rotor 5 against theworking surface 4 of the stator 3. The lower end of the shaft '6carrying the rotor 5 is provided with an axial bore 7 communicating witha through-going bore or preferably as shown only one opening 8 on oneside of the shaft. In the embodiment shown the shaft is solid but itwill be understood that this shaft may also be a tube provided with alateral opening 8, which may possibly be closed over the lateralaperture by a stopper.

The channel 7, 8 for supplying the peppercorns to the receptacle isclosed at its lower end by insertion of a stopper of an elastic materialas, for instance rubber or cork, or it may be provided with an internalthread 9 for insertion of a screw stopper 10 which may be operated bymeans of a flange 11 with a knurled periphery.

It should be understood that the grinding device shown in FIG. 1 may initself be used as a table pepper mill, but generally it is intended formounting within a housing of an appropriate artistic design, forinstance as will appear from FIG. 2 and 3. By this embodiment a grindingdevice as shown in FIG. is inserted in a bore 14 in a pepper mill's mainhousing 13 manufactured of decorative wood and with a nearly squarecross section as shown in FIG. 3. The receptacle of the grinding deviceis fastened in the bore 14 as by gluing.

An operating head or knob 16 also of wood and with the same crosssection is secured to the upper end of the shaft 6 as by gluing.Openings or windows 15 are cut out in the sidewall of the housing 13,and the cylindrical part of the grinding devices receptacle being of atransparent material the contents of same will be visible. Spring meansas, for instances, a slightly conical disk of resilient material isinserted between the top of the receptacle 1 and the lower surface ofthe knob 16 so that a more coarse grinding product may be achieved bypressing down the knob 16 into the main body 13 during operation.

While what hereinbefore has been described is the preferred embodimentof this invention, it is readily apparent that alterations andmodifications can be resorted to without departing from the scope ofthis invention and such alterations and modifications are intended to beincluded within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a' grinding device for peppercorns including a substantiallyenclosed, hollow receptacle having at the bottom thereof a statordefining an internal grinding surface, a shaft rotatably mounted in andextending through said receptacle, and a rotor secured to the lower endof said shaft and defining a grinding surface of a predetermined shapefor cooperating with said stator grinding surface to grind peppercornsin said receptacle upon rotation of said shaft and said rotor; theimprovement of means for supplying peppercorns to said receptacle ofsaid grinding device characterized by providing easy access to saidreceptacle without interferring with the design of an external housingin which said grinding device may be inserted, said means comprisingchannel means extending directly through said rotor from the outside ofsaid receptacle and said grinding device to the inside of saidreceptacle, and removable means for positioning in the outside end ofsaid channel means for closing said channel means when peppercorns arenot being supplied and for removal from said channel means whenpeppercorns are being supplied.

2. in a grinding device, as set forth in claim 1, in which said channelmeans comprises an axial bore extending through said rotor and at leastpartially through said shaft and a lateral opening from said borethrough said shaft into said receptacle.

3. In a grinding device, as set forth in claim 1, including means forurging said grinding surface of said rotor into grinding engagement withsaid grinding surface of said stator.

4. In a grinding device, as set forth in claim 3, in which said meansfor urging said grinding surface of said rotor into engagement with saidgrinding surface of said stator comprises a resilient spring meanspositioned between said receptacle and said shaft for allowing saidshaft to be manually moved against the urging of said spring means tomove said grinding surface of said rotor further away from the grindingsurface of said stator for adjusting the coarseness of the grinding ofthe peppercorns.

5. A table pepper mill having a main housing a decorative design andmaterial, within said housing a receptacle for peppercorns, saidreceptacle being at its bottom provided with a stator with an internalgrinding surface with grooves or notches and in general ofafrustoconical shape converging upwardly, within said stator a rotorprovided with a correspondingly shaped grinding surface, said rotorbeing secured to the lower end of a shaft carried through saidreceptacle and rotatably mounted in the top of the same, said shaftbeing at its upper end secured in an operating knob or head, springmeans for resiliently urging the rotor against the stator, an aperturefor supplying peppercorns to said receptacle provided in said rotor andclosing means for closing said aperture.

6. A table pepper mill according to claim 5 wherein at least thesidewalls of the receptacle are of a transparent material and the mainhousing at its sidewall provided with at least one opening or window.

1. In a grinding device for peppercorns including a substantiallyenclosed, hollow receptacle having at the bottom thereof a statordefining an internal grinding surface, a shaft rotatably mounted in andextending through said receptacle, and a rotor secured to the lower endof said shaft and defining a grinding surface of a predetermined shapefor cooperating with said stator grinding surface to grind peppercornsin said receptacle upon rotation of said shaft and said rotor; theimprovement of means for supplying peppercorns to said receptacle ofsaid grinding device characterized by providing easy access to saidreceptacle without interferring with the design of an external housingin which said grinding device may be inserted, said means comprisingchannel means extending directly through said rotor from the outside ofsaid receptacle and said grinding device to the inside of saidreceptacle, and removable means for positioning in the outside end ofsaid channel means for closing said channel means when peppercorns arenot being supplied and for removal from said channel means whenpeppercorns are being supplied.
 2. In a grinding device, as set forth inclaim 1, in which said channel means comprises an axial bore extendingthrough said rotor and at least partially through said shaft and alateral opening from said bore through said shaft into said receptacle.3. In a grinding device, as set forth in claim 1, including means forurging said grinding surface of said rotor into grinding engagement withsaid grinding surface of said stator.
 4. In a grinding device, as setforth in claim 3, in which said means for urging said grinding surfaceof said rotor into engagement with said grinding surface of said statorcomprises a resilient spring means positioned between said receptacleand said shaft for allowing said shaft to be manually moved against theurging of said spring means to move said grinding surface of said rotorfurther away from the grinding surface of said stator for adjusting thecoarseness of the grinding of the peppercorns.
 5. A table pepper millhaving a main housing a decorative design and material, within saidhousing a receptacle for peppercorns, said receptacle being at itsbottom provided with a stator with an internal grinding surface withgrooves or notches and in general of a frustoconical shape convergingupwardly, within said stator a rotor provided with a correspondinglyshaped grinding surface, said rotor being secured to the lower end of ashaft carried through said receptacle and rotatably mounted in the topof the same, said shaft being at its upper end secured in an operatingknob or head, spring means for resiliently urging the rotor against thestator, an aperture for supplying peppercorns to said receptacleprovided in said rotor and closing means for closing said aperture.
 6. Atable pepper mill according to claim 5 wherein at least the sidewalls ofthe receptacle are of a transparent material and the main housing at itssidewall provided with at least one opening or window.